Former Rep. Doug Ose, R-Calif., announced Tuesday that he will challenge freshman Rep. Ami Bera in California's 7th District, becoming the second Republican candidate in an open primary field that is expected to grow in the coming weeks.

Ose represented a large chunk of the redrawn 7th District from 1999 to 2005, when he retired after a self-imposed term-limit was up. In a release, Ose's campaign said the former congressman's name ID and familiarity among the district's constituents give him a leg up in this contest.

In 2008, when Ose waged his first comeback bid, the Club for Growth helped defeat him in a Republican primary against McClintock. While the group has not said definitively if it will get involved in this race now that Ose is in, spokesman Barney Keller said in July that Ose "is no friend to the pro-growth cause" and “if he were to run for Congress, we’d look at seeking out a viable conservative alternative.”